Super Bowl 50 Countdown–20 Weeks To Go: My updated “Santa Clara Six” predictions for the teams most likely to meet at Levi’s in February, plus notes about a San Jose State symposium, the trophy tour and tailgate drinking

With 20 weeks left until the Super Denouement and the NFL season two weeks old, I figured this would be a good week to update my savvy and profound outlook of the Santa Clara Six, the half dozen teams I deem most likely to appear at Super Bowl 50 in Santa Clara. There are also some other interesting notes at the bottom of this post.

I began my Santa Clara Six rankings about six months ago and figure to update them at the milestone countdown dates, with 20 or 15 or 10 weeks to go. Or whenever the else I feel like it, if something drastic happens.

Something drastic has definitely happened to the Dallas Cowboys, who were my No. 2 favorite in the NFC bracket last time I did my list in late July. The Cowboys are 2-0. But with quarterback Tony Romo out for at least two months with his mangled shoulder and wide receiver Dez Bryant out at least until Week Nine while rehabbing a broken foot, I have dropped Dallas out of the Santa Clara Six for now. Some might call that an overreaction. I disagree. Romo and Bryant are the team’s two best offensive players. It’s not so much that I think the Cowboys will miss the playoffs. But I think they will struggle for the next two months and lose three or four games– which means that when Romo and Bryant return, Dallas will have to work so hard to get into the playoffs and will own a bad wild card seed when it gets there.

So who replaces the Cowboys in the NFC Top Three and the overall Santa Clara Six? No, not the 49ers or Raiders. A whole lot of other quarterbacks would have to get hurt before that happens.

The most drastic changes, actually, have occurred on the AFC side of the bracket. My top three choices back in July — Baltimore, Houston and Indianapolis — are all 0-2. Of course, in July, I thought New England quarterback Tom Brady would be missing the first month of the season because of a suspension. Silly me. I forgot to consult my legal advisor, who might have told me that Roger Goodell would soon be reduced to a quivering pile of mush by Brady’s lawyers.

Anyway, here are my latest rankings:

SANTA CLARA SIX

AFC BRACKET

1. New England Patriots — Damn. Damn, damn, damn. With Brady back in the pocket and Belichick under the hood, it’s going to be hard for someone to pick against them. And the next three games on the New England schedule? Jacksonville, the closest thing to a bye week. Dallas, with no Romo. And then Indianapolis, which from the outside looking in seems to be wracked with internal strife and on the field seems to be playing in sludge.

2. Pittsburgh Steelers — They lost to New England by a touchdown in Week One at Foxborough but looked very impressive against the 49ers. Ben Roethlisberger could be having one of those seasons.

3. Cincinnati Bengals — They’ve fooled me before. They could be fooling me again. But who else on the AFC side is better? And there’s a lot of playoff experience on the Bengals’ roster, even if they have not won a playoff game in decades. Cincinnati’s next three games are against the Ravens, Chiefs and Seahawks. If the Bengals win two of those three, they are legit.

NFC BRACKET

1. Green Bay Packers — Sticking with the Pack at No. 1, just as in July. Why? In a quarterbacking league, no one has a better quarterback — even if Aaron Rodgers must do it without his top receiver, Jordy Nelson, who won’t play this season after his knee injury in an exhibition game. The most important medical update from the Wisconsin prairie remains this: Rodgers’ calf injury from last season that affected him in the playoffs is completely healed.

2. Arizona Cardinals — Carson Palmer as a Super Bowl quarterback? I know. I also find that hard to fathom. But the Cardinals’ talent is no fluke. Just watch them against the 49ers this weekend and then tell me which roster you’d prefer.

3. Seattle Seahawks– Even at 0-2, they look impressive. Remember, both those games were on the road. With three of their next four at home, and the Kam Chancellor non-signed distraction behind them, my feeling is that Seattle will get back on track.

* * *

The truck that will be carrying the SB50 display and eight Vince Lombardi trophies to a city near you.

From all reports, the Bay Area tour of eight Vince Lombardi trophies (five from the 49ers, three from the Raiders) has been going swimmingly at its stops so far, with long lines and good crowds. This weekend, the trophies stop in Pacifica at the Pacific Coast Fog Fest . The “50 Tour” of trophies will be set up in the parking lot of Ingrid B. Lacy school on both Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., with former NFL players being present on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. to sign autographs.

* * *

At least one local university has decided that Super Bowl 50 is worth scholarly study. San Jose State is in the process of planning a multiple-day symposium regarding the Super Bowl this autumn and winter. Or so I am told by Barry Shiller, the school’s associate vice-president for marketing and communications. The overriding theme for the symposia will be “Sports Tech: The Intersection of Sports, Technology and Media.”

Plans currently call for a Nov. 16 kickoff of the programs during a Lucas College of Business
“innovation” event on the San Jose State campus. Other tentative program dates:

December 9: Multiple panels and a keynote speaker exploring how technology and the Super Bowl intermix and intermingle.

January 27: The media’s interaction with the Super Bowl, both from the journalism and advertising/public relations angles. Multiple panels will discuss.

For further information, Shiller can be reached at barry.shiller@sjsu.edu . His office number is 408-924-1785. I will also try to post updates as they develop.

WARNING, WARNING WARNING: I may be involved in one of these panels or programs. I’ll also advise you about that if you wish to stay away from my portion of the proceedings.

Also, you may remember my previous post about the South Bay managing to claim the “business end” of the Super Bowl while the parties will almost exclusively take place in San Francisco.

My reporting about the San Jose delegation visiting the Super Bowl 50 Host Committee to pitch the group on bringing the competing teams to Santa Clara County for their practices and hotel stays was correct. But I have since learned that the SB50 Host Committee was leaning in that direction, anyway. The commitee just wanted to make certain that the South Bay sited were buttoned up (and in the case of San Jose State, the locker room facilities improved to NFL standards) so that the Host Committee could assure the NFL that having the teams headquarter in Santa Clara and San Jose was the best idea.

The league, apparently, was strongly considering housing just one team in the South Bay, with Oakland as the base for the other competing team. That team would have utlized the Raiders’ training facility in Alameda as a practice site and an East Bay hotel as the bunkhouse. If that had happened, the Media Day (now called “Super Bowl Opening Night”) likely would have been held at Oracle Arena in Oakland, with one team busing up from the South Bay for the event.

Such an arrangement could have been a nightmare logistically given the normal clogged Bay Area traffic situation –not just on Media Day, but on the other two or three days of Super Bowl Week. If one team stayed in San Jose and the other in Oakland, media members might have to take buses in the morning from the media center in San Francisco to the South Bay, then bus up the Nimitz Freeway to interview the other team in Oakland, then bus across the Bay Bridge back to San Francisco.

With everything settled in the South Bay instead, neither team will have a far bus ride to SAP Center for the “Opening Night.” And the rest of the week, media buses will travel own Interstate 280 or Highway 101 to the hotel-based interviews, then ride back the same way. No bridges involved.

* * *

Someone asked me if this past week’s Santa Clara City Council dialogue about curbing excessive alcohol consumption at Levi’s Stadium games might have an impact on the Super Bowl plans or operations. My answer: Not that I can determine so far. On Super Bowl weekend, the main tailgating lot will be full of huge corporate tents that, yes, will be serving alcohol all day long before the 3:30 p.m. Pacific kickoff. So if the city council bans alcohol consumption in the parking lot earlier than two hours before game time, that could be a problem. I don’t see it happening. Do you?

And as for inside the stadium . . . well, the Super Bowl crowds tend to be a little different than the usual NFL crowd. Meaning that, after paying $750 or more for their tickets, people tend to behave themselves and not get thrown out of the venue.

It will be interesting, though, to see what the city council comes up with after the staff comes back with its report. But one person I know made this interesting observation:

“Last year a rather small group of Native Americans and their supporters showed up to protest the Redskins before the Washington game in November,” this person told me. “I was there. There were about 100 of us–and around us were no less than 50 officers, all in riot gear, and all dressed in black. Some were from the ICE, some from DHS, some from the Santa Clara Police and some from the sheriff’s office. On top of that I am sure there were some undercover officers. So I suspect if the police could turn out at about a 1-2 ratio for a peaceful demonstration, I suspect they could do something about the drinking in the parking lot before and after the game IF they cared.”